2011 May Domestic Conference Call: Strengthen Your Case for Head Start and Early Childhood Services

The RESULTS May 2011 RESULTS Domestic national conference call focused on our month-long effort to understand the importance of investments in early childhood development programs. Guest speaker and former Head Start parent Susan Stoker shared her perspectives on the impact Head Start had on her children and her role as a parent. We then discussed strategies for our outreach to local Head Start programs, which is the focus of the RESULTS May 2011 U.S. Poverty Action. This month, we want to better inform our advocacy on Head Start, Early Head Start, and Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) by visiting a local Head Start center. Visiting your local Head Start center will give you the opportunity to deepen your knowledge of Head Start and its impact in your community. By meeting with staff and parents, you can get the data and stories necessary to impact members of Congress on this issue. A recent survey of congressional staff showed that when asked what best influences members of Congress on the issues, demonstrating how an issue or policy affects people in their home state or district was at the top of the list. Visiting your local Head Start center will help provide you the details about that impact.

During the conference call we walked through a model conversation of a call to a Head Start program (see our May 2011 Domestic Laser Talk) and set a goal of reaching out to at least 24 programs across the country. We then reviewed the latest about the budget situation in Washington, heard about some of the great outreach in Columbus and Santa Fe built on connections made you during our outreach around the release of the documentary To Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America, and Marty Karnopp in Colorado closed the call with some announcements.

Listen to the May 2011 RESULTS Domestic Conference Call: Strengthen Your Case for Head Start and Early Childhood for all the details!